Now it's Asahi Shinbun's turn. Asahi uncovered what the then-Finance Minister had said about TEPCO in the early days of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The then-Finance Minister is today's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Remember the mention of some ministers who were worried about the stock market in the meeting after Reactor 1 blew up on March 12, 2011? Noda looks like he was one of them.

It has been revealed that Yoshihiko Noda, then-Minister of Finance, worried about the rapid decline of TEPCO's share price, said "I want you to refrain from saying things that may weaken (TEPCO)" during the meeting of the nuclear disaster response headquarters on the night of March 31, 2011. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry disclosed multiple memos of the meeting at the information disclosure request from Asahi Shinbun on April 13.

The meeting took place about 3 weeks after the start of the nuclear accident last year. Around that time, the share price of TEPCO dropped significantly on the prospect that the amount of accident compensations would be huge under the Atomic Energy Damage Compensation Law. On March 30, 2011, TEPCO's chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata was hinting that the existence of the company was in doubt.

Taking the disclosed memos together, Noda as the Minister of Finance told the meeting participants, "If the nationalization of TEPCO is in the news, the share price will hit the stop limit. Of 600,000 shareholders of TEPCO, 590,000 are individual investors and the impact on the economy will be large. I want you to refrain from saying things that may weaken TEPCO", restraining others from criticizing TEPCO.

I think Koichiro Genba, then-minister in charge of national strategy and current Minister of Foreign Affairs, may be the other minister who was worried about the stock market and particularly about TEPCO. He was the one who said "Let's all cheer for TEPCO" in late March last year.

Wake up Japan. Your government has been overthrown by the nuclear industry. And they used portions of your utility payments to do it!

When and if you get your country back, laws should be passed to prevent public utilities from all lobbying, campaign contributions, or giving retirement jobs to anyone in government. They should also be prevented legally from providing donations or payments to any charities or communities or anyone else.

..."The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is still not over. Far from it, there are signs that it is getting worse. I can't stand by and look at the political situation without focusing on this serious event.

One figure who has entered the public spotlight in the wake of the nuclear crisis is Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute...In a TV Asahi program on June 16, Koide said: "As far as I can tell from the announcements made by TEPCO, the nuclear fuel that has melted down inside reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has gone through the bottom of the containers, which are like pressure cookers, and is lying on the concrete foundations, sinking into the ground below. We have to install a barrier deep in the soil and build a subterranean dam as soon as possible to prevent groundwater contaminated with radioactive materials from leaking into the ocean."

His comment captured public interest and when I asked a high-ranking government official about it, the official said that construction of an underground dam was indeed being prepared. But when I probed further, I found that the project was in limbo due to opposition from TEPCO.

Sumio Mabuchi, an aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan who is dealing with nuclear power plant issues, holds the same concerns as those expressed by Koide and has sought an announcement on construction of an underground dam, but TEPCO has resisted such a move.

The reason is funding. It would cost about 100 billion yen to build such a dam, but there is no guarantee that the government would cover the amount. If an announcement were made and TEPCO were seen as incurring more liabilities, then its shares would fall once again, and the company might not be able to make it through its next general shareholders' meeting.

In my possession, I have a copy of the guidelines that TEPCO presented to the government on how to handle press releases. The title of the document, dated June 13, is "Underground boundary' -- Regarding the press." It is split into five categories on how to handle the announcement of construction of an underground boundary. In essence, it says, "We are considering the issue under the guidance of prime ministerial aide Mabuchi, but we don't want to be seen as having excess liabilities, so we're keeping the details confidential."

Possibly the silliest response to envisaged questions from reporters is TEPCO's suggestion for a reply to the question, "Why hasn't construction been quickly started?" The response reads: "Underground water flows at a speed of about 5 to 10 centimeters a day, so we have more than a year before it reaches the shore."

Initially an announcement on the underground barrier was due to be made to the press on June 14, but it was put off until after TEPCO's general shareholders meeting on June 28. In the meantime, the state of the nuclear power plant continues to deteriorate and radioactive materials are eerily spreading and contaminating the area around the plant.

Which is more important: upholding share prices or stopping pollution? The Japanese political and business world has sunk to a level where it can't even answer such a question. One government official recently commented, "I think I can understand now why the leaders during the war couldn't precisely and steadily accomplish their strategies." Today, announcements from the "imperial headquarters" -- namely TEPCO's releases on its roadmap for bringing the nuclear crisis under control, which nobody believes -- are still being issued...

The most important issue now is preventing contamination from radiation. We need leaders who can focus on the core issue without being swayed by empty theory." [http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20110620p2a00m0na005000c.html]

..."The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is still not over. Far from it, there are signs that it is getting worse. I can't stand by and look at the political situation without focusing on this serious event. One figure who has entered the public spotlight in the wake of the nuclear crisis is Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute...In a TV Asahi program on June 16, Koide said: "As far as I can tell from the announcements made by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the nuclear fuel that has melted down inside reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has gone through the bottom of the containers, which are like pressure cookers, and is lying on the concrete foundations, sinking into the ground below. We have to install a barrier deep in the soil and build a subterranean dam as soon as possible to prevent groundwater contaminated with radioactive materials from leaking into the ocean."

His comment captured public interest and when I asked a high-ranking government official about it, the official said that construction of an underground dam was indeed being prepared. But when I probed further, I found that the project was in limbo due to opposition from TEPCO. Sumio Mabuchi, an aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan who is dealing with nuclear power plant issues, holds the same concerns as those expressed by Koide and has sought an announcement on construction of an underground dam, but TEPCO has resisted such a move. The reason is funding. It would cost about 100 billion yen to build such a dam, but there is no guarantee that the government would cover the amount. If an announcement were made and TEPCO were seen as incurring more liabilities, then its shares would fall once again, and the company might not be able to make it through its next general shareholders' meeting.

In my possession, I have a copy of the guidelines that TEPCO presented to the government on how to handle press releases. The title of the document, dated June 13, is "Underground boundary' - Regarding the press." It is split into five categories on how to handle the announcement of construction of an underground boundary. In essence, it says, "We are considering the issue under the guidance of prime ministerial aide Mabuchi, but we don't want to be seen as having excess liabilities, so we're keeping the details confidential." Possibly the silliest response to envisaged questions from reporters is TEPCO's suggestion for a reply to the question, "Why hasn't construction been quickly started?" The response reads: "Underground water flows at a speed of about 5 to 10 centimeters a day, so we have more than a year before it reaches the shore." Initially an announcement on the underground barrier was due to be made to the press on June 14, but it was put off until after TEPCO's general shareholders meeting on June 28. In the meantime, the state of the nuclear power plant continues to deteriorate and radioactive materials are eerily spreading and contaminating the area around the plant.

Which is more important: upholding share prices or stopping pollution? The Japanese political and business world has sunk to a level where it can't even answer such a question. One government official recently commented, "I think I can understand now why the leaders during the war couldn't precisely and steadily accomplish their strategies." Today, announcements from the "imperial headquarters" -- namely TEPCO's releases on its roadmap for bringing the nuclear crisis under control, which nobody believes -- are still being issued...

The most important issue now is preventing contamination from radiation. We need leaders who can focus on the core issue without being swayed by empty theory." [http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20110620p2a00m0na005000c.html]

@anon 1:51, do you really think that Japan intends to relocate 40 million people to islands that have been disputed for decades without any type of infrastructure. If I was the Russians I would be stunned as well. Sending so many people to Siberia would shock me. How about the Japanese are using the disaster to gain land?

You can fish there but you cannot relocate Tokyo there. Did you look at a map?

There needs to be more investigation into who in the government is still supporting nuclear power and the reactor restarts. We found a corporate banker who has been influential in the government about face on ending nuclear. Maeda was interviewed in January making all sorts of excuses for Japan restarting reactors, continuing nuclear exports etc. http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=5766

The media or the bloggers need to keep finding those within the government who are still pushing nuclear and name names. These individuals trying to make Japan continue with nuclear need to face public scrutiny.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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